Remember the 1981 hunger strikers

[digitaldell]

REMEMBER THE 1981 HUNGER STRIKERS

Twenty five years ago on 1st March 1981 IRA prisoner Bobby Sands began to refuse food in protest at attempts by Margaret Thatcher and the British government to criminalise the republican struggle. Those involved in the Hunger Strikes of 1980 and 1981 were ordinary men and women who in extraordinary circumstances and with the support of people throughout Ireland defeated this policy.

Before the Hunger Strike was to end in October 1981, ten young Irishmen were to die in defence of the principle that theirs was a political struggle and that like Terence MacSwiney before them, they would not be criminalised. During that momentous year the Irish people elected Bobby Sands MP for Fermanagh/South Tyrone and the people of Cavan/Monaghan elected Kierán Doherty TD.

The legacy of the 1981 Hunger Strikes is still unfolding but the aims for which these young men gave their lives are still being fought for today. The struggle for a republic based on the principles of the 1916 Proclamation continues.

North County Dublin Sinn Fein invites you to hear the uncensored story of the 1981 Hunger Strike:

Tuesday 28th February @ 7.30pm in the Milestone, Balbriggan

Speakers: Former POWs from the H-Blocks and Armagh Womens Prison

Sinn Féin TD and former POW Martin Ferris

[hiding behind a poster]

North County Dublin Sinn Fein invites you to hear the uncensored story of the 1981 Hunger Strike:

Will the uncensored story include the fact that virtually all the prisoners' demands were granted in secret negotiation about halfway through the hunger strike, but that this was kept from both the prisoners and their families, as they were considered by the IRA Army Council to be of far more use dying than they'd be living?

Just curious.

[brenners']

North County Dublin Sinn Fein invites you to hear the uncensored story of the 1981 Hunger Strike:

Will the uncensored story include the fact that virtually all the prisoners' demands were granted in secret negotiation about halfway through the hunger strike, but that this was kept from both the prisoners and their families, as they were considered by the IRA Army Council to be of far more use dying than they'd be living?

Just curious.

Em yeah, that rubbish was put about sometime ago. It is rejected by all those involved in the strikes, and although I was only 8 at the time of the strike I can still remember the absolute raw emotion of the time, there is no way that the Army leadership would have allowed this to happen, and given that the British where being condemned around the world for their callous action there is no way they would not have made this information public.
The five demands where quite simple:
The Right not to wear a prison uniform;
The Right not to do prison work;
The Right of free association with other prisoners;
The Right to organize their own educational and recreational facilities;
The Right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week.

But they are so important, the Brits tried to criminalise the struggle, to say the fight for national self determination was illegal and these brave men and women used the only weapon open to them, their lives and won. I think it is a disgrace that people who once called themselves republicans should tell these lies.
We where talking about dissidents on another thread, some in the prisons at the time where involved in this struggle fall into that catagory, so where the INLA, and it is important that the strike is commemorated in an inclusive way.

[badinage]

the Brits tried to criminalise the struggle, to say the fight for national determination was illegal

IRA violence is illegal.

Its illegal in the UK, its illegal in the ROI. Its illegal under the Geneva Convention. Unless you can point to some international law (beyond extremely vague UN charter articles that aren't legally binding) making PIRA violence legal? Even if you're arguing that "the Irish people" (i.e. the population of the island) are sovereign and the source of "law", the Irish people as a whole would have made PIRA violence illegal.

Just because a violent act is committed in the belief that it will advance the cause of "national determination" doesn't make it legal.

[Johnny]

the Brits tried to criminalise the struggle, to say the fight for national determination was illegal

IRA violence is illegal.

Legal - no. Morally justifiable and wholly neccessary - yes, without doubt.

[BritishPetroleum]

[quote=brenners']

North County Dublin Sinn Fein invites you to hear the uncensored story of the 1981 Hunger Strike:

Will the uncensored story include the fact that virtually all the prisoners' demands were granted in secret negotiation about halfway through the hunger strike, but that this was kept from both the prisoners and their families, as they were considered by the IRA Army Council to be of far more use dying than they'd be living?

Just curious.

Em yeah, that rubbish was put about sometime ago. It is rejected by all those involved in the strikes, and although I was only 8 at the time of the strike I can still remember the absolute raw emotion of the time, there is no way that the Army leadership would have allowed this to happen, and given that the British where being condemned around the world for their callous action there is no way they would not have made this information public.
The five demands where quite simple:
The Right not to wear a prison uniform;
The Right not to do prison work;
The Right of free association with other prisoners;
The Right to organize their own educational and recreational facilities;
The Right to one visit, one letter and one parcel per week.

[/quote:fk70tsvn]

What was Sands done for? Carrying an illegal weapon wasn't it? I think it's therefore fair enough to call him a criminal. I'm also slightly perturbed by the fact that there is a "North County Dublin Sinn Fein", this in a constituency where a Unionist candidate stood at a by-election a few years ago. Is nowhere safe from them nowadays?

[morryah]

What a waste of life. It achieved nothing and still achieves nothing positive.

It is propanganda - used much like the fundamentalist Muslims recruit their disaffected youth. (emphasis on mentalist).

[Moogie]

It is rejected by all those involved in the strikes

Not by all. It is alleged by Richard O'Rawe that what HBAP has just posted is true. O'Rawe while not actually on the strike was a Blanketman and was one of the principals involved in the communication between the prisoners and the army leadership. His allegations raise some serious questions. Either he has made the whole thing up and there never was a deal to be had (possibly). Or the leadership received the message that the prisoners wanted to accept the deal and the leadership refused (Unlikely seeing as the leadership did not want a hungerstrike in the first place). Or perhaps the communication was passed out of the H Block but never made its way to the leadership. This last scenario is in my opinion the most likely and begs the question just who did take that message out of the jail?

[Báile Bhuirne Man]

the Brits tried to criminalise the struggle, to say the fight for national determination was illegal

IRA violence is illegal.

Its illegal in the UK, its illegal in the ROI. Its illegal under the Geneva Convention. Unless you can point to some international law (beyond extremely vague UN charter articles that aren't legally binding) making PIRA violence legal? Even if you're arguing that "the Irish people" (i.e. the population of the island) are sovereign and the source of "law", the Irish people as a whole would have made PIRA violence illegal.

Just because a violent act is committed in the belief that it will advance the cause of "national determination" doesn't make it legal.

Was it legal for the Brits to invade our country in the first place? This arguement is as old as the hills and this isn't really the tread to discuss this sort of thing on, its disrespectful to the martyrs that are being commemerated... start another tread if you want to discuss this, please.

[zakalwe]

but illegal none the less